Democratic National Convention: 8 takeaways

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The conventional summer has ended and the final lap of the 2012 election has officially begun.

President Barack Obama leaves North Carolina as the Democratic Party’s official standard-bearer. Bill Clinton departs Charlotte elevated to the latest peak in a lifetime of political crashes and redemptions. And Mitt Romney, nowhere near Charlotte, was mocked for three nights straight.

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President Obama’s speech was well-received in the convention hall and by some Democratic activists watching at home. But there was far less energy in the hall than there was for Clinton’s speech a night earlier, underscoring that there is a difference between 2012 and 2008.

Obama himself alluded to those differences plainly, telling the party faithful he knew that “times have changed” since 2004.

“I’m no longer just a candidate. I’m the president,” he said, referring to the stark realities the nation faces.

But despite rapping Romney for lack of a plan, he didn’t go heavy on specifics. Obama listed a litany of numerical goals — deficit reduction in 10 years and the like — but that was about it for specifics. He spent some time on his accomplishments, but the economic stimulus, for instance, was not one he touted.

The president’s language was hopeful and forward looking — Obama left the toughest attacks to others.

This was not a speech that pressed reset for the president, but basically served the purpose of an incumbent dealing with a bad economy and evaporated 2008 magic. His hope is that Clinton did that for him, without also overshadowing him.

“Before last night, no one knew the rationale for keeping Barack Obama four more years — now we do. Bill Clinton made it plain,” said Republican strategist Alex Castellanos. “He told us that when the sun comes up tomorrow, things will be better. He told us the greatest risk would be stopping in the desert and turning back from the promised land. Old dad came home and said, ‘Trust me, give the kid another chance.’”

2. Energy and message went to Charlotte over Tampa

It doesn’t dictate who will win. But the Democrats put on a better convention.

Not every metric here is the same. Republicans did the best they could under some trying circumstances, including a hurricane, a candidate to whom the base has warmed slowly and a city with logistical hurdles for such a large-scale event.

For all the talk — and polling data — showing an enthusiasm gap on the Democratic side, the partisans in the Time Warner Arena were fired up. The energy in the hall was real. The delegates stayed in their seats and listened attentively.

Mr. Obama is the liberal law professor who campaigned against the Iraq war and torture, and then insisted on approving every new name on an expanding “kill list,” poring over terrorist suspects’ biographies on what one official calls the macabre “baseball cards” of an unconventional war. When a rare opportunity for a drone strike at a top terrorist arises — but his family is with him — it is the president who has reserved to himself the final moral calculation.

“He is determined that he will make these decisions about how far and wide these operations will go,” said Thomas E. Donilon, his national security adviser. “His view is that he’s responsible for the position of the United States in the world.” He added, “He’s determined to keep the tether pretty short.”

It is also because Mr. Obama embraced a disputed method for counting civilian casualties that did little to box him in. It in effect counts all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants, according to several administration officials, unless there is explicit intelligence posthumously proving them innocent.

Aides say Mr. Obama has several reasons for becoming so immersed in lethal counterterrorism operations. A student of writings on war by Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, he believes that he should take moral responsibility for such actions. And he knows that bad strikes can tarnish America’s image and derail diplomacy.

“He realizes this isn’t science, this is judgments made off of, most of the time, human intelligence,” said Mr. Daley, the former chief of staff. “The president accepts as a fact that a certain amount of screw-ups are going to happen, and to him, that calls for a more judicious process.”

But the control he exercises also appears to reflect Mr. Obama’s striking self-confidence: he believes, according to several people who have worked closely with him, that his own judgment should be brought to bear on strikes.

Asked what surprised him most about Mr. Obama, Mr. Donilon, the national security adviser, answered immediately: “He’s a president who is quite comfortable with the use of force on behalf of the United States.”

The DNC has so mismanaged their "platform" that they have singularly done what $100 million of GOP Ads would be hard pressed to do!!

In taking the word "God" out of their Platform, they have alienated just about every Evangelical and Deep South Baptist Voter in the Democratic Party.

In erasing the "Jerusalem Is the Capitol of Israel" clause, they have alienated most of the 4% Jewish Vote in Florida and maybe everywhere else.

In re-instating the word "God" in their Platform, the Democrats have now alienated their Atheist Caucus - and by re-inserting the "Jerusalem clause" they have now earned the dissatisfaction of their Arab block.

Not to mention just how foolish and disorganized the entire Convention appeared to the Television audience. The Democrats have isolated and divided their own Party with competing messages on National TV - Saul Alinsky would be smiling and crying at the same time!

Whoops!... there goes the momentum!

I'm really beginning to wonder if Michelle has put the word out that 4-years in the White House is enough - I think even now, Obama can picture himself doing the "big dollar" Speaking Engagements over the next ten years!

“Since 1961, for 52 years now, the Republicans have held the White House 28 years, the Democrats 24. In those 52 years, our private economy has produced 66 million private- sector jobs. So what's the job score? Republicans: twenty-four million. Democrats: forty-two.”

"Technically, this is true. Just as technically, Barack Obama should run screaming with his hair on fire from this statistic. There’s a reason for that: Clinton is measuring presidential tenure purely from inauguration to inauguration. For example, he’s taking jobs numbers from January 1981 to January 1985 to measure Reagan’s first term. Only one problem with this: by this standard, Barack Obama is the second-worst private jobs creator of the last half-century."

That's hilarious how you're so desperate. Your team has nothing. If you think God or Israel is going to be the deciding factor in this election, you're just dumb. I understand that after 3 long days of your party and your candidate being completely exposed, you need some glimmer of hope to hang on to. I'm sorry to have to tell you though, you've got nothing - absolutely, positively, nothing.

“He has offered a reasonable plan of $4 trillion in debt reduction over a decade, with $2.5 trillion coming from -- for every $2.5 trillion in spending cuts, he raises a dollar in new revenues, 2.5 to 1. And he has tight controls on future spending. That's the kind of balanced approach proposed by the Simpson-Bowles commission, a bipartisan commission.”

This one’s so bad that even the Washington Post, Obama’s favorite news outlet, debunked it. The fact remains that both Simpson and Bowles are fans of Paul Ryan, the Republican VP nominee. And Obama rejected the Simpson-Bowles plan outright. As the Post puts it, “virtually no serious budget analyst agrees with this accounting.”

Beyond Epic Fail. He just created so much fail that even fail failed to show up!

And what's this crud? "And the truth is it will take more than a few years to solve challenges that have built up over decades. It will require common effort and shared responsibility, and the kind of bold, persistent experimentation that Franklin Roosevelt pursued during the only crisis worse than this one."

Go "experiment" with some other economy President "this seat is taken"

The Dems have positioned themselves as strong but smart on national defense. The economy is improving but not as robust as some would like. That being said you don't want a bubble either. I say he has done as well as to be expected with a hostile congress. My IRA is worth 150,000.00 more since Obama became POTUS.The jobs have to come in the second term as many reluctant CEO's will need to increase capacity.

Obama chose not to be entertaining. I think the President let the country know (indirectly) that he has been hurt - and the country has been hurt - by losing the House in the 2010 election. Everything takes longer, in part, because of 2010. He wouldn't say that the derogatory, spiteful, slander campaign has hurt him him emotionally, but I think it has. He didn't turn on the Republican Party for blocking everything they could of his plan to help the country. He chose to show resolve and his spine of steel (as Joe Biden put it), focused on the task of this election -clarifying the choice- instead of giving us an uplift of spirit. It was a remonstration, a subtle but stern lesson of spirit. We the people, collectively, are responsible for the 2010 election. And what comes next is up to us too.

With the time dely on polling. Righ now mitt is at his combined VP naming and GOP convention bounce peaks.

BLAH !

Hebarely breaks over 200 in most Electoral College vote model. Othrs still have him stuck t181 or 191.

Oama on th other han....

got Romneys bounce!!!

He went UP in Electral Votes during Mitts convention flop.

The statistical guru Nate Silver now has th President of the United Staes, with a whopping311 Electoral votes and a 73% odds of crushing poor flip-lopping daft dodger Willad and lil lil Lyin Ryan buddy.

Takeaway - the President of the USA will ultimately decide what his job grade or ultimately if he should even be graded. He is the leader of the "free world" after all. Obama: My Presidency Will Be 'A One-Term Proposition' If Economy Doesn't Turn In 3 Years www.youtube.com/watch

Printing money & inflating the economy sure served your investments well. Good luck to the next generation to pay off your wonderful capital gains now that every US citizen now owes $51,125.50 to the Peoples Bank of China.

U.S. NATIONAL DEBT CLOCK

The Outstanding Public Debt as of 07 Sep 2012 at 05:11:20 AM GMT is:

The estimated population of the United States is 313,458,764 so each citizen's share of this debt is $51,125.50.

Romney is weak. Neither he nor Ryan have any POSITIVE foreign policy experience. Romney went overseas and insulted not one, not two, but THREE countries. The Brits gave him the nickname "MittTheTwit" We don't need a rude or ignorant foreign policy. We are paying $3 trillion for that from the Bush years.

Wow. So we need ANOTHER War? How high will gas prices go with this one? TRUE Military leaders know war is a LAST resort, not a first resort. So I hope you and all the Romney supporters will sign up to FIGHT this war, right?